La CAN et la politique des affects
La CAN de cette année en Côte d'Ivoire a montré que ce n'est pas seulement la politique du football qui compte, mais aussi la politique de l'ambiance.
Music
The affective politics of AFCON
This year’s AFCON in Côte d'Ivoire showed that it’s not just the politics of the football that matters, but the politics of the vibe as well.
La femme fatale africaine
Africa Is a Country is partnering with AfroWave Echoes to present their quarterly playlist of African music.
It’s not over
Burna Boy’s ‘Monsters You Made’ takes the debate about the need for material decolonization outside the ivory tower and into the public sphere.
The amapiano wars
Between the Grammys and AFCON semi-final, it's been a big week for the rivalry between Nigeria and South Africa.
AFCON is a playlist
On this second day of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, we’re bringing you a playlist exploring some of the most iconic songs in African football.
Weeping for Palestine
In 1987, a band led by a group of South African Jewish brothers released a song against apartheid repression. Today, its lyrics speak to conditions in Palestine as well.
Keeping Afrobeat decolonial in Buenos Aires
One bandleader's quest to keep Afrobeat political in Latin America.
Taking care of each other
How a new underground club in Nairobi offers Kenyans respite from the harshness of everyday life.
The “Caribbeanization” of Afrobeat in Colombia
In Colombia, doing straightforward political music carries many risks, including confronting state repression, political armed rebellions, and organized crime.
Wielding scissors
Asher Gamedze on his new single ‘Wynter Time,' and the struggle of oppressed peoples against dispossession, exploitation and alienation.
False progress
From 2024, the Grammys will feature an award for Best African Music Performance. Is the category a positive step embracing the global popularity of African music, or another homogenizing exotification?
Biko’s children
In their debut EP, the Johannesburg-based experimental jazz group iPhupho L’ka Biko offer a message of hope, resilience and solidarity while drawing from South Africa’s black jazz heritage.
The magic man
Chris Blackwell’s long-awaited autobiography shows him as a romantic rogue; a risk taker whose life compass has been an open mind and gift to hear and see slightly into the future.
Paradise forgotten
While there is much to mourn about the passing of legendary American singer and actor Harry Belafonte, we should hold a place for his bold statement-album against apartheid South Africa.
The lesson of the turtle and the dove
The South African musician known as Madosini passed away in 2022. She was one of the last of a generation who learnt to play traditional Xhosa instruments, in so doing sharing the spirituality, dignity, and joy of Xhosa culture through her inimitable song.
With respect
A new film by French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis uncovers how American jazz giant, Thelonious Monk, was disrespected by French media at the end of his European tour in 1969.
A worldly Nubian energy
The music and art of Lauryn Hill and Chiwoniso Maraire combined sexiness with political consciousness, offering Black women a way out of rigid categorization.
The new Zimbabwe soundtrack
Zimbabwe is not Mugabe, Nkomo, Mnangagwa or Chamisa. A new Afro-electronic music duo is giving the country’s complexity a soundtrack.
Who owns Afrobeats?
Does Afrobeats come from the continent or the diaspora. This reviewer of a new book on the genre's history and rapid takeover of our airwaves and playlists, argues we need to center Africa more.